Oh, okay. Did you have to drop Steven off to see E.R.? E.R., he's gone without it probably. Oh, bless his heart. Julie's coming. Oh, Julie's coming, okay. Well, as far as I know, we'll have the church on Sunday, maybe. They're calling for another weather system to come in. Supposed to be a west of us, but it looked like it might be us. And the temperatures are going to be down near zero, so. Staying up close to your phones, I'll let you know what happens. I think we can handle the temperatures to start snowing more quickly, I'd say, because we just know that five degrees is going to be terrible.

But anyway, I hate it when we miss these Sundays. I was trying to tell you the last time, I remember one February, I think it was in the 80s, maybe in the 90s, the 90s, we missed three or four Sundays. But hopefully, we'll get back on schedule soon. I sure do miss worshiping with y'all on Sundays. I miss it, so I'm curious.

I don't usually get depressed, but I get depressed about that. And tomorrow, I'm going to Lowe's to pick up a light. I'm going to go see if I can get my light fixed. Also, I'm going to get a haircut, which I really need. I'm going to use hairspray tonight.

Do you have any prayer requests? I see the Lord's help. Yes. Cynthia Muse, her son passed away. They're having his service Friday at 2. Who? Cynthia Muse. Muse family. M-E-U-S-E M-E-U-S-A. Yeah. My friend in basketball, she had her ankle move as one of the coaches. What's her name? Avery Gentry. Avery Gentry. He's a legend in the martial arts community.

Let's begin our worship in hymn number 205, What's For All. Freedom, the law, a happy condition Jesus has bled and there is remission Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall Grace has redeemed us once for all Once for all, will a sinner receive it? Once for all, will the world believe it? In the cross, the burden will fall Christ hath redeemed us once for all Now are we free, there is no condemnation Jesus provides a perfect salvation.

Come unto me, O hear His sweet call. Come and He saves us once for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive it. Once for all, O brother, believe it. Lead me to the cross, that there may fall, my Jairus, once and for all. Children of Nahu, glorious calling, surely His grace will keep us from falling. As in Prometheus, life has come, Blessed salvation once for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive it! Once for all, O brother, believe it! Lead through the cross, the burden will fall, rise and redeem us once for all.

Number 227. Oh, now I see the cleansing way, the fountain deep and wide. Jesus, my Lord, I see. Oh praise the lord. Oh, praise the lord. It comes with me. It streams with me. Oh, how I wish to rest in Him. To feel the blood apply. And Jesus know me. Jesus know my Jesus crucified. The cleansing stream, I see, I see, I contemplate, it cleanses me. Oh, praise the Lord, it cleanses me. It cleanses me. Turning your Bibles please to John in the ninth chapter verses 35 through 38.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out. And when he had found him, he said to him, does thou believe on the Son of God? And he answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast most seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe.

And he worshiped him. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, glorious and holy, high and lifted up, We approach you in the name of Jesus Christ, your son, our mediator, the only mediator between men and God. We are thankful that even now he sits at thy right hand, having purged our sins, to ever live to make intercession for us. We are thankful that he came into this world, But she knew him not and cared not for him, though he had made it and kept it going. He came into this world and took upon himself the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin in the flesh. He walked among men for 30 years, 33 years, and then gave his life a ransom for many. secured their salvation, was made to be their righteousness, and made them complete in Him. We are thankful that the matter of salvation was settled in eternity, completed in time, and will never change.

Father, we pray for those who are sick and going through trials, those who've lost loved ones, and I know it's never the case, these who are mentioned tonight. We ask, Lord, your help for them, to watch over them, to reveal yourself to them, cause them to fall at the feet of Jesus Christ. Pray for ourselves tonight as we gather here that you'd give us worship. cause us to ponder and to think on the things of Christ and not our own things.

To dwell on his glorious work and what he accomplished for his people. To think of him and his majesty and his beauty. He who is the chiefest among 10,000, the bride and morning star, the lily of the valley, the rose of Sharon. King of kings and Lord of lords. Worthy of all praise and honor, for he gave his life for us. Help us now to worship you. We pray in Christ's holy and precious name. Amen.

Now this former blind man had not confessed that he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, His testimony before the Pharisees was that the man that had healed him was certainly of God. He had to be of God. This was enough for the Pharisees to enact their agreement.

They had to cast out any of the synagogue who confessed that Jesus was the Christ, even though he did not confess that at that time. Verse 22 says, His parents, because they feared the Jews for the Jews, had agreed already that if any should confess that he was the Christ, it should be put out of the synagogue. We read last time in verse 34, the last four or five words of that verse is they cast him out. So he's been cast out.

This man had been miraculously healed and now was an outcast, a pariah. Could no longer worship in the temple, could no longer enter the synagogue. because he had faithfully declared what this man had done for him and that's basically all he had done was say over and over again what Christ had done for him and they couldn't take it so they asked him to repeat it and he did repeat it and even said if I keep saying it does that mean you're going to believe on him and that's when they said he was altogether in his sin and cast him out of the temple. Now he did not know the Lord as such He had seen him, because when the Lord opened his eyes, I'm sure he saw the Lord. And he had heard his voice, but he didn't know him.

That's how he responded in verse 11 and in verse 25. He said this, he answered, he said, a man that is called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said, go to the pool of Siloam and wash. And I went and washed and received my sight. In verse 25, he said, whether he be a sinner or no, I know not. One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. There's no indication that he knew anything other than this man, Jesus, this Nazarene, had come to him and anointed his eyes with spittle, with blood made from his own spit, and had had him washed in Salome and made him to see.

And when the Lord heard that this man had been cast out, Christ went and found him. That's what the language says in clear language here. Jesus heard in verse 35, they had cast him out. And when he had found him, he said, then dost thou believe on the Son of God? He was cast out, and the Lord found him. This was not by chance or by happenstance.

The Lord, as the good shepherd, always seeks his sheep until he finds them. language he used in the parable in Luke chapter 15, when he discounted the Pharisees, telling them that he was looking for his lost sheep, saying that they weren't the lost sheep.

Even though they were called the 99, they were described as those who needed no repentance. In chapter 15 of Luke, in verse 4, it says, what man of you having a hundred sheep? If you lose one of them, do not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he finds it. Go after the lost until he finds it.

Then he puts it on his shoulders and brings it back into the fold. Not one of the sheep, not one of the elect will be finally lost. I know that we are troubled often by the false teaching that men teach concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. It always ought to rest in the back of my mind that the elect will not be deceived. They will hear the gospel, and they will hear the voice of Christ, and they will be brought into the fold. That's the promise of the great shepherd. Other sheep have I, which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and there shall be one shepherd and one flock. Not one of the sheep will finally be lost.

All for whom Christ gave his life will be carried upon his shoulders and brought into the realms of glory. His last famous notion that one for whom Christ died will perish is entirely foreign to scripture. You don't find that language anywhere in scripture. He's called a savior. That's his title. He's called a savior because he saves. He didn't save, but if he failed to save anyone he came to save, then he's not a savior. He's a false thing. When the Lord found this man, He asked him if he believed on the Son of God. Do you believe on the Son of God?

And this is the capital issue with the Pharisees. Many had believed on Christ, and this was what the Pharisees most feared, that the Lord Jesus Christ would gather men to himself. In fact, we've already read in verse 22 that if anybody confessed that he was the Christ, they'd be put out of the synagogue. This was a matter. They sought to kill him because he had healed on the Sabbath. So this is what they most feared. The man's answer to the Lord is full of gospel information. Verse 36, he said, Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?

The question is, can you believe on anyone who you don't know? Can you trust in someone who you don't know? Men and women speak of believing on Christ, yet the Christ they profess to believe has attributes that match no description of the Christ declared and described in the Word of God. To believe in Christ, who cannot save you unless you let him, is to be lost in your sin. To cast your soul in the arms of one who relies on your will to make his sacrifice effectual is to die in your sin. Knowing him is not only the primary and paramount aspect of salvation, it is the vocation and the advocation and the life endeavor of the child of God.

Paul, after he'd been preaching the gospel for 30 years, in prison wrote to the people of Philippi. He had met Christ on the road to Damascus. Christ had cast him down into the dust. Christ had blinded his eyes with the bright light. Christ had told him that he was going to go out and preach the gospel and Christ sent him to a house and Ananias came to him and when Ananias told him the gospel that he had seen the just one and the Savior and was called to go preach the gospel throughout the world. Scales fell from his eyes.

This was a man who had a great and powerful encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. He was already a very religious man. He was a member of the Sanhedrin. He was one of the rulers of the Jews. He was a brilliant lawyer. If you read what he wrote, in the epistles that he wrote, you'll see the brilliance of his ability to set forth and persuade men concerning the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He set forth the gospel in a way that men could not ever doubt what was true.

But after preaching all those years and being in prison for Christ, he said, this is what my desire is in Philippians chapter 3. This is what I want. I want to know Him and be found with Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness which is of the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. I often know him. You've heard me illustrate many times, use the illustration many times of that, of the illustration of a man who was cast out in the Roman Coliseum, and the lions were turned loose.

He was a Christian, and they were killing Christians. And so the lion was turned loose, and the man sat there in the middle of that arena, and here came this lion, turned into a monstrous, beaten lion. came toward him growling at a high rate of speed and stopped and opened up his mouth. And the man said, I saw the maw, the maw of this creature and his teeth long and fierce. He said, I knew he was going to kill me and I passed out for fear. A few moments later, I woke up and the lion was laying beside me dead with his head crushed.

And I looked up and there was one walking out of the Coliseum with a Blood on his heel. And I knew that one had killed his line and saved my life. And he said, all I wanted in the rest of my life was to know who that was and why he had done that. That's a picture of our salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ came in and crushed Satan's head for us. And we spend our life desiring to know him.

The promise of the new covenant began speaking of in the Old Testament and set forth clearly in Jeremiah chapter 31 is that every one of the elect are going to know the Lord. They're going to know the Lord. Look over Jeremiah 31. This is a chapter quoted a great deal in the book of Hebrews. He conserved this new covenant. Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 33 says, but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.

I will put my law in their inward parts, that is his word, write it in their hearts. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Now that's not, there's no ifs, ands, or buts, or no qualification, or no condition added yet. He didn't say, if they'll do this, I'll be their God. He said, I'm going to be their God. They're going to be my people.

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord. And I'm not going to teach that anymore. I'm not going to walk around saying, know the Lord. They shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. And I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more.

That's quoted quite a lot in Hebrews. In Hebrews chapter 8, that particular verse is set forth. Paul wrote to the Hebrew children who were believers. In Hebrews chapter 8, verse 10, he says, for this is the covenant that I will make with you, quoting Jeremiah. With the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord, I put my laws in their minds, and right in their hearts.

I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. They shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins, and their iniquities, while I will remember no more.

In that he saith a new covenant, he hath made first the old, Now that which is decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. Saying the old covenant's gone and the new covenant's set forth. The old covenant said, know the Lord, be familiar with the Lord, be familiar with his laws, walk in his statutes. The new covenant said, everybody's gonna know me. Everybody is gonna know me.

Our experience in knowing Christ in the gospel age will not be a physical encounter as it was with this man. Our Lord is in glory. He sits at the right hand of the Father. Our message is we preach Christ and Him crucified. And what that says, we preach Christ as He is now and where He is now and why He is where He is now. And He's the one who was crucified, which put Him in the place where He is now. But the crucifixion is history.

The gospel, it's been done, it's a finished work, it was complete. The Lord has ascended to glory and being honored and glorified for having accomplished the salvation of his people. He was obedient even to the death of the cross, wherefore God has highly exalted him and given him a name above every name. And at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that he's Lord to the glory of the Father. Things in heaven, things in earth, things out of there. All of us know that Jesus Christ is Lord. He's in glory.

Our knowledge and acknowledgment of Him will be in one way, and that is by faith. The gift of God is founded entirely on the gospel priest with the Holy Ghost come down from heaven. That's how we confess the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we know Him. We do know Him. Make no bones about it. Everybody who belongs to Christ knows Him. We've never seen Him. We've never touched Him. We've never shook His hand. We've never bowed down and touched the hem of His garment.

And yet we know Him. How do we know Him? We know Him because God has done this thing to us. In our hearts and in our minds, He has written His Word. And when we look at that Word, we actually see someone. And that's someone we see as the Lord Jesus Christ, and we know him as if he's standing right beside us. We know him. We know him by faith. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

But how shall they call on him in whom they not believe? And how shall they believe in him whom not they heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except they be said? So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

That's a wonder. I don't understand it. You know, but it's not my job to understand, it's my job to declare it. And my job is to believe it, as the Lord has commanded, and He gives His children faith to do so. This knowing Christ is greater than actually what this man experienced, as well as wonderful as this man experienced. There's something greater than that. Faith is the greatest thing that God has ever done for his people as far as giving them a gift. He's given them the gift of faith.

If you look over at 1 Peter. Or 2 Peter rather. Chapter 1. Peter talks about knowing Christ and seeing Christ face to face in wondrous conditions. saw Christ on a boat and saw him get out of the boat and walk on water. Christ was walking on water, going to the boat, and Peter said, Lord, bid me to come to you. Let me walk on the water. Christ said, go on. He got out of that boat, Peter did, and started walking toward Christ. You can't do that. You can't have God says to do it. And God said to do it.

So he got out and he walked on the water and then he began to see the billows and the waves rise and he got scared and he began to sink because he took his eyes off Christ. He started watching circumstance rather than looking to Him. Peter saw great things. Saw great things. He was at the Mount of Transfiguration. That time when the Lord went up to pray, And his robes, now he just wore an old shepherd's robe. It looked like a big old robe. It wasn't anything fancy. It didn't have any doodads on it or ribbons or jewels. It was just a plain robe. All of a sudden his robes started to glow. Glistening. Brighter than the noonday sun. Brighter than, whiter than any fuller or bleacher could make it. He saw this. Imagine this. He's sitting there and it's the night time and he's walking up the side of this hill and all of a sudden he starts to glow.

Peter saw that. In wonder of wonders, he saw two men come out of nowhere and stand beside the Lord Jesus Christ and he knew it was Moses and Elijah. They'd been dead for centuries. But here they stand talking to the Lord about the decease which he should accomplish in He's seen some things. You'd think, the fellow's seen that, you know. Of course, he later denied the Lord through time, but nonetheless, he had seen some wondrous things, and he recalls that in his epistle of 2 Peter. He says in verse 16 of chapter one, he says, for we have not followed cunningly defies fables, whom when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We were there. We saw it eyeball to eyeball. We saw what he did.

For we received from God the Father honor and glory. For he received from God the honor and glory. When there was such a voice from him, from the excellent Lord, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. They heard the voice of God come from heaven.

Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he said those words to Peter. because Peter had decided that he wanted to honor the law and the prophets and the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, let's build a statue to Moses, let's build a statue to Elijah, let's build a statue to Jesus. And while the words were yet in his mouth, it says, the fog rolled in where they could hardly see anything.

And a voice came from heaven and said, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. You see, the law and the law and the prophets gave witness of him. That was their job in the Old Testament to talk about and set forth the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, we saw this. He said, in this voice which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him in the holy mountain, the mountain of transfiguration.

Look at the next phrase. We have a more sure word of prophecy. We're entombed, you do well to take heed, as unto a light that shineth in the dark place, until the day dawn and the day star rise in your heart. Knowing this, what's this more sure word of prophecy than even seeing Jesus Christ personally face to face?

People get a lot of stuck in that. They say, well, I've seen an angel, I've seen Mary, I've seen Jesus on the side of a water tower, I've seen him in a door, I've seen him down in Conyers, Georgia, I've seen him in different places. They put a lot of stock in there. Peter says, you ain't seen what I've seen. You ain't seen a man glow. And his robes brighter than the noonday sun. We have to shave the eyes. You ain't heard a voice from heaven. I have.

He said, we have a more sure word of prophecy. Knowing this, this is the more sure word of prophecy. Knowing this verse that no prophecy of the scripture is a private interpretation, for the prophecy came not at old with the will of man, but the holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. What's our more sure word of prophecy?

That even seeing the Lord, thanks to faith, this. What does this have to do with anything? This is how we know God. by the word that he has given us. We know him by faith alone through the grace of God. But this one thing is both true of our case and this man also in John chapter 9. And we will not know who it is that we believe until the Lord himself reveals himself to us. And how does he do that? He's preaching the gospel. That's how it's done. That's the voice of Christ. I don't understand.

Our Lord said, and people didn't agree with him, or John the Baptist, he said, I thank thee, O Lord, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for Thou hast hid these things from the wise and the brutal and revealed them unto me. Even so, for it seemed good in Thy sight. No man knoweth the Father, but the Son. No man knoweth the Son, but the Father, and he to whoever the Son will reveal to him.

The Gospel is by revelation, a revelation. This man said, who is he? that I might believe on the earth. Who is He? We need to know that. He is set forth in Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 in this book. In verse 37, our Lord does just that. He reveals Himself to this man. Jesus said, Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee. For this man, our Lord, says, You have both seen Me, We've seen Him and heard Him, but by faith, so have we. So have we.

Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 4.18 that we look on things that are not seen. We see things that are invisible. We don't look on temple things that pass away. We look on spiritual things that we've never seen with our eyes, but we see them by faith because the Lord has spoken in them. The Lord has spoken in them. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 38 says, Now the just shall live by faith. That is, the justified shall live by faith.

But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for. It's the evidence of things not saved. substance and evidence. The result of our Lord revealing Himself to His elect is ever the same and becomes the single most precious thing in the life of a sinner saved by grace. The man said, Lord, I believe. The gift of faith is a magnificent thing. The older I get, the more I think about it, the less I believe I understand it. I'm glad I have it. I'm glad God gave it to me, but I cannot define it. It's two marvels.

One who has received this precious gift believes and only believes and continues to believe. And that belief ground is grounded entirely on the word of God and it causes a believer to do one thing, to worship. To worship God because if we ever get a glimpse of what we are in nature and what Christ has done for us, By the Spirit teaching us this truth, we'll worship God. We won't worship ourself, we won't look to ourself, we won't think of ourself, we'll think on Him.

A man who's filled with the Spirit, according to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. verse 18 it says, be not drunk with wine where in his excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's not saying it's wrong to drink wine, it's wrong to be drunk. If you're going to be drunk, be drunk with the Spirit of God.

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things under God and the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a pretty good picture of what true worship is.

Hebrews 13.5 says it this way.

Or 13.15, by him, that is by Jesus Christ, therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise. Praise is called a sacrifice because it's not involving you. You don't get to do no praise. Praise belongs somewhere else. The sacrifice of praise of God continually. What is that? Is it to jump up and down? Run the back of pews? Is it to speak in tongues?

What is it to praise God continually? That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks unto His name. He's living in a realm of thanksgiving, and every believer will tell you that it is worship that beats the soul and calms the spirit. The world offers nothing but chaos and dismay and sorrow. But when we can gather with those of like precious faiths and hear the sovereign majesty of Christ, in that brief hour, we are at peace, and our hearts are filled to the brim amidst what seems the worst of times, we find the best of times.

May it sit as the heart panteth after the waterbrook, so panteth my soul after the old God. My soul thirsteth for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say to me, where is your God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me.

Where I've gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God with a voice of joy and praise with a multitude that kept the holy name. This man had received his sight and said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped. Father, bless us to understand and pray Christ's name. All right, God bless you. It'll be by earphones on Saturday. We'll see what happens. Do you have a problem with that? It's a horrible idea.